Supporting Hydro Power in China
SGS has been carbon neutral since 2014. While we constantly look for new opportunities to reduce energy use and swap to cleaner fuels, we also offset those carbon emissions we have not yet been able to eliminate. We carefully scrutinize potential offsetting projects, to ensure the carbon savings are credible and the projects deliver benefits to the local community.
In 2019, SGS purchased Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), equivalent to avoiding 99,848 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), from the Nansha Hydro Power Project, in China’s Yunnan Province. We chose this project as it aligns with our commitment to support renewable energy and low carbon economies.
The Nansha Hydro Power Project is a hydro power plant capable of generating more than 700 GWh of renewable electricity every year. Connected to the Yunnan Province Power Grid, and from there to the South China Power Grid, the project displaces approximately half a million metric tons of carbon from the electricity supply annually.
Prior to the construction of the Nansha Hydro Power Project, the South China Power Grid was almost entirely comprised of coal fired power plants, making the electricity supply highly carbon intensive. In addition, electricity was inaccessible to many local communities, who relied instead on firewood, creating air pollution and exacerbating deforestation. Local people can now benefit from greater access to electricity, cleaner air, less time spent gathering firewood and fewer power cuts.
This project was developed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program and produces independently verified CERs. The predicted income from the sale of these carbon credits made the project financially feasible.
